Midwest MTB Racing Recap - Chequamegon

by Jay Richards
September 18, 2007

This past weekend, mountain bikers by the thousands flocked to the forests of northwest Wisconsin to tackle on the 25th running of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. If trees could speak, I am sure they would provide the most interesting of tales over the 25 years as riders have negotiated a variety of conditions on a variety of two wheels. If you head to Chequammy land this winter for the Birkie, don't be surprised if the needles of the coniferous trees, (and I'm not just talking about tamaracks) have their needles gone as they tell over and over the tale to the up and coming saplings who weren't tall enough to witness the rider who spun his way through the towering pines on a bike with only one gear.

The win by Jesse Lalonde ranks as one of the most impressive displays of mastery of a bicycle I have seen in my 17 years of biking, and for sure the 12 years I have made the trek to Wisconsin for the mighty Chequamegon. Having raced the Short and Fat with Jonell on the tandem, we were able to watch the finish for this year's 40. Near the finish line, I bumped into Mr. Fatman himself, race director Gary Crandall who recapped some other great finishes of previous years as we waited to see who would be first. I was able to hear over the radio the latest race update as the lead quad made its way to the line with 1500 riders in tow. Also at the line was Mike Hall who had followed the day's race more than anyone else, using Eric Oftedahl's motorcycle to provide feeds for Jeff Hall who was in the lead group right until the end. He provided a recap of how the race was playing out up until 6 miles to go where he last saw the riders.

When the quad crested the hill I saw Jesse out in front, coasting down the hill, smooth as silk, as he made the sweeping turn to the final climb, keeping rhythm like he was shifting gears to set himself up for the win. But remember, he had only one gear and I don't think many people watching at the finish knew that.

As we made our way to the finish line I bumped into familiar faces, and everyone was shaking their head in disbelief. "He did it", a lot of folks declared. At the finish I ran into Jeff Hall and asked him how it went and what not and what he thought about Jesse taking the win and he was pretty much speechless.

At the awards ceremony that evening, Steve Tilford made a surprise trip to the microphone. Not knowing what to expect, I thought it was first class he recognized the accomplishment of Lalonde, stating he was clearly the strongest rider on the day.

I dropped Jesse an e-mail earlier this week to congratulate him on his win and asked him a few questions about his race. This is what he had to say.

1. 

   What was your strategy at the start?
   Any strategy at this race is thrown out the window once the ATV's let us loose but if I had one I'd say it was to minimize any damage done on the long leadout while still keeping the leaders insight.
2. You have had a great year, taking six wins in WORS on a variety of courses, so your confidence to ride with those top guys on the single was up there.  But in a race like Cheq, how was it with just one gear, riding in a group with guys that have gears on the 40 course? Did you pre-ride the course at all during the year?
   Like I said before the road was key. We reached speeds of 30mph at times and I was maxed. My rpm's were through the roof and my confidence level was shot by mile 3 as I watched the leaders disappear. Entering the Birkie rollers after Rosies I focused on the group as I gained on the climbs. A couple stragglers popped off the back as I used them as motivation. I owe the race to Doug Swanson who was one of the guys who popped but soon caught a second wind blasting back up to the front with me in tow. Once in the group I recovered and was surprised by the tame pace. The hardest I worked all race was through the leadout into Rosies.
3. Obviously your gearing did the job. Did you feel satisfied how that went during the race? Anything you might of done differently? Any other bike set up changes different for this race compared to other races this year?
   The bike set up was pretty consistent with what I've ridden all year. Next year I'd consider a 38:16 which is definitely the proper gear for record pace. I changed my rear tire to a Stans Crow which has a very minimalist tread and rode it at 20psi which allowed me to sit through a lot of the rocky descents. My front tire has been the Bontrager Dry x 2.1 which is hooks up flawlessly on the turns yet allows for minimal resistance on the long pulls. I chose to ride the Fisher ferrous which is a steel frame that weighs in at 22.5 fully loaded.
4. Fire Tower Climb?
   Rode, ran, rode, ran.
5. Everyone I talked to was blown away by your performance, how did it feel when Steve Tilford took the mike at the awards ceremony to recognize you?
   Steve's comments were huge. I'm just as surprised at my performance as he was. Considering that I was reading about Steve when I was 12, it was an honor just to mix it up with him. Stand up guy!
6. Do you have any intentions to run gears in the future now that you have "mastered the singlespeed"?
   No gears. I've pretty much raced/rode a single my whole life. I'm molded to the one speed. It's like an additional limb.
7. Once again, nicely done. Any last comments?
   Thanks to everybody who has supported my 07 season. Fisher, Bontrager, Kenwood racing, BKB, Twinsix, family and last but not least my wife Amanda who is the greatest water girl in the world!

In the women's race, Jenna Zander made her first appearance in the Chequemegon 40 and rode a smart race to take the win. I dropped a note to Jenna about her race.

1. Being your first Cheq, what were your expectations going into the race?
   I really had no expectations going into this past weekend. Since I had never raced the Cheq before I could only go off of what I had heard from others. I knew ahead of time who my main rivals would be so that helped with any start line shock. My goal was to find Sue Haywood's wheel and try and hold it as long as possible. She was definitely the most accomplished rider in the field. She has a lot of experience with the point to point style racing before and is really strong on the national scene.

2. 

   Having raced the National series and many local mtb races, was your preparation leading up to this race any different compared to other racers? The extra lap at Maplelag Laddies Loppet: was that planned or a end of race decision because you felt good and did another one for training?
   I really didn't do anything special to prepare for this race. I have been racing since early February so the season has been long. This race was definitely a late season priority for me, as the national series finished up in August, but I was sick a lot during the month of August so any extra special training was slightly derailed.
   The extra lap at the Laddie's Loppet was three fold. First reason was that I passed my fiancé Justin for the first time ever and he told me that I had to do an extra lap as I went by. He was hoping that I would finish the race off riding with him but nope I just kept on going. Secondly, I have quite a rivalry with a few of the expert men, Jason Wenk aka "The Wenksta" and Dave Oachs. So when I caught and passed them I wanted to see if I could hold them off for the complete four laps. I knew they wouldn't give me full credit for beating them unless I did the same length race as them. Finally, the third reason was I knew that the Cheq would be close to a 2.5 hour race and wanted to simulate that kind of length.
3. Talking to you on Sunday, you seemed pretty relaxed during the race, not knowing the course and what "lied" ahead. When did it sink in you had a legitimate chance to take the win?
   Yeah I tried to stay relaxed because the main reason I raced was to have fun and see what this whole Cheq thing was all about. I was at the front of the women's field until we hit the Firetower climb, that is when Sue put a bit of a gap on me. I could see her off and on until the two mile to go point when I started reeling her in. It was around the one mile to go point that I made contact. From then on I buried myself not knowing if there would be a response from Sue. Lucky for me she was suffering pretty bad and I held her off for the win.
4. Did you do any different set up with your bike? Tires?
   Not really. I ran my Cannondale Taurine pretty much stock. I put on a fresh pair of Michelin Dry2 Tubeless tires and ran them at 25psi. It was just the right tire and pressure set up for the high speeds and dry sandy conditions. I also ran with two bottle cages knowing that there is always a chance of dropping a bottle or having a cage break. I figured having two half filled bottles would be a safer bet then running one large bottle in this style of race.
5. What are your cycling plans for the rest of the year?
   Well, I am going to finish off the Minnesota state series with the race in St. Cloud this coming weekend. I will also race the Cyclocross race on Sunday which is also in St. Cloud. My final mountain bike race will be the final WORS race in Sheboygan and then I will be ready for a break. Its been a long but successful season.

Richards Recap

It was the second go for Jonell and I on the tandem and Jake in the Short and Fat. We rode the first two miles and last 5 miles the day before, reminding ourselves of the course. The pre-ride was great and we were all excited for the challenge the next day. We even practiced our start where Jonell would hold the bike while I clipped in, counted down and we pulled Jake down the hill. The fine gentlemen setting up the start area looked at us like "what are you guys doing?" and when we were finished I had to ride up and say "have to practice the start you know". He just looked at me with a blank stare.

Saturday morning brought chilly conditions with the ground coated nicely with a layer of white. As we neared the start of the race, the sun was providing nice warmth and a conditions were set for a great race.

At the start, we were lined up front and center. At the sound of go, Jonell and I shot to the front and eventually broke free of the pack, after a mile I looked back and saw we had a ten meter gap on the field. Crazy, we were leading the race. When we hit the gravel though, we were consumed by the main group as Jake rode by yelling "what are you guys doing, leading the race" with a smile on his face like we weren't going to see him again. Yeah, what was I doing? I paid for that hard start -- my legs heavy as we climbed up the hill trying to find a comfortable rhythm. Oh, we never saw Jake again other than watching him pull away from us as he stayed left and out of trouble.

After we climbed the long hill and turned left I asked Jonell how she was doing and she yelled "great". I wasn't feeling great but I kept plugging away as I knew this race would be over before we knew it and my legs had to come around. We passed John Thompson who took the flyer to the front after we were chewed and spit out by the pack. He had flatted and was out of contention. We were able to crank things up on the long forest road downhill and this section of course was my favorite as the 29'er two seater would get flying and start picking off riders. I asked Jonell again how she was doing, "great" she said. That was good as I wasn't quite there.

As we made way to the Birkie trail, I started to come around and we continued to pick off a few more riders. I had the tires pumped up pretty good and we were bouncing around like those toy poppers. I was hoping that timing chain would stay on. We ripped the big hills with no worries and then the chain flew off on a rocky bumpy section. Darn. A quick fix, a few riders passed by and we were back in action. I was feeling good, Jonell was still feeling good and we continued to pick off a few more riders.

As we neared the last mile, we caught up to the first female the same time someone yelled this out. Then the same person realized Jonell was female and yelled out the women on the tandem was the first women so the women who was in first, attacked. We held her off and caught a few more riders and heard we were in 24th position. We came to the half mile to go mark after a long downhill and I debated to keep it in the big ring or drop to the middle. I kept it in the big one and Jonell and I muscled our way to the top. But it was too much, we threw the chain on the right side and decided with less than a half mile to go, it would be better to just ride and run it in. This was bit of a risk as our chain would be lose but we made it down the last downhill with no troubles. We had to run the last climb and we lost five spots.

At the finish we caught up to Jake and he told us how his race played out after we saw him last. Jake had a fine race finishing 8th overall, just losing contact with the lead group and pulling a rider the last five miles before pulling away from him. Gary Crandall came up to us and said to Jonell " You were almost the first female across with the help of your Dad, uh, oh, I mean husband."

Sunday was fun day. We had a full day of racing action with Jake and I running the Cable Crit on the tandem for four laps, Jake did singlespeed for four laps then his age group for four laps. Initially, we were told that the age groups would run first but they ran the tandem division first, then singlespeed then Jake's group was right after that so he was a bit toast for his age group race having already completed eight laps but had fun. We had the option to run in the finals as we both won our age groups but thought best to represent the tandem class so we had a go. It wasn't a tandem friendly course but we had fun as we were able to avoid being pulled the first two laps before having to call it a day.

Great job once again to all the officials, organizers, volunteers and everyone who make the Chequemegon happen. It was a great 25th!

Looking ahead

Both the MNSCS and WORS kicks back into action this weekend. The final race in the MNSCS takes place in St. Cloud at the "Jail Trail" with the Single-Track Escape. Should be some great battles as racers try to secure or move up a place. The Expert race should be a good one with only four points separating Sam Oftedahl and Brendan Moore for the Expert title.  The WORS head to the Iola Winter Sports Club in Iola for the Tater Bake Open with baked potatoes and all the fixings for post race munching. 

Keep the wheels moving!!!